Some of the members of the Campbell Mock Trial team are, left to right, Nick Whitlock, Laura Rion, Lydia Boyette, Adam Campbell, Nikita Gandhi, Johnathon “Alex” Wiles, Ashlyn Rich, and Andrew Strobo.
BUIES CREEK — At an American Mock Trial Association regional tournament held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Feb. 15-16, Campbell University’s mock trial team tied for eighth place and Campbell sophomore Lydia Boyette received an Outstanding Attorney Award.
A total of 16 teams competed and represented universities from North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., including George Washington University, UNC-Chapel Hill and the universities of Georgia, Tennessee and Central Florida. Unlike most of the mock trial teams, Campbell Mock Trial does not have a coach.
“The results show that our team efforts over the past three years are beginning to come to fruition,” said Andrew Strobo, the captain of Campbell’s mock trial team and a senior in economics. “Lydia Boyette, in addition to her personal achievements, also showed that Campbell Mock Trial can deliver excellent attorneys and that our team should not be taken lightly in the competition.”
Over the past year, Campbell’s nine team members met regularly for two to three hours at a time to practice for the competition and spent even more hours studying for it individually.
For the competition, each team received the same court case and materials, and each learned the ins and outs of the case. Each team had to be prepared to represent either the defense or the prosecution in any of the four rounds during the competition. A judge and two jurors decided which team won or lost during each of the four rounds. The judges were typically a law student, an attorney or an actual judge.
“For years we have worked on our own to understand the law and how to construct a case in chief,” Strobo said. “It has been a process of trial and error, but I feel that it has given our team a better understanding of how trials function.”
The members of Campbell Mock Trial who competed at the regional competition are listed below:
Andrew Strobo, captain, senior
Lydia Boyette, sophomore
Adam Campbell, senior
Nikita Gandhi, junior
Andrew Ryan Hall, senior
Hunter Outlaw, senior
Ashlyn Rich, junior
Laura Rion, senior
Johnathon “Alex” Wiles, freshman